Originally Posted by
FromMyColdDeadHand
The problem with GoT was that it was character driven, like a soap opera- and you build up and make complex all these characters- how many? 20-30? Plot moves slowly with that kind of character inertia- and like a network, the more nodes and connections, the greater the inertia. That is fine if you stay character based, and you can carry on for 100s of episodes.
Then GoT got plot driven as their needed to be an end, and they needed to get there fast. Throw out the character development, move characters at light speed, and advance the plot.
What they should have done was started killing of more characters sooner- but whack the wrong ones and you lose audience. Keep the characters and you keep viewers (subscribers), but they are unhappy- but still paying.